# Acton (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/acton/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 4,892 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,874 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 63,112 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.8% (4,666 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈæktən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English āc (“oak”) + tūn (“farm, town, homestead”); compare the doublet Aughton.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Acton in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 92% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.8% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 1.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Acton in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

## People named Acton

- Loren Acton, astronaut
- Brian Acton, American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of WhatsApp
- Amy Acton, American physician and politician (born 1966)
- Bud Acton, American basketball player
- Will Acton, American-born Canadian ice hockey player
- Ben Acton, Australian ice hockey player (1927–2020)
- Ferdinand Dalberg-Acton, British baronet (1801-1837)

## Similar surnames

Ashton, Aston, Axton, Austin, Astin, Aceituno, Ashdown.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.